With Duaner Sanchez on the DL and Guillermo Mota in the performance enhancer penalty box, I was counting on this guy to nail down the 8th inning. A fairly modest expectation

Associated PressReliever Aaron Heilman rubs up a new baseball after giving up a two-run homer to Florida's Josh Willingham in the 8th inning.

when you consider how he's excelled in the role for the past two seasons.

But whether it stems from slump, scarred psyche or sore elbow, Aaron has simply not been the same pitcher he was before he gave up that back-breaking NLCS jack to Yadier Molina.

In fact, he's been downright lousy.

Heilman gave up a game-sealing, two-run homer against the Marlins last night, just a few appearances after coughing up a key run against the Nats on Saturday. In between, he came within a hair of flushing John Maine's 1-0 gem down the toilet Sunday before Scott Schoeneweis bailed him out of a bases loaded mess.

That's not even mentioning those two meltdowns against the Braves. Squandered leads that, at the moment, are the difference between first and second place for the Amazin's.

Aaron's slumped before and rebounded. Last season Sanchez was around to pick up the slack. I think it's time we give Schoeneweis (1.86 ERA) and Joe Smith (zero runs in 13 innings this season) a healthy slice of the set-up duties until Heilman gets his footing.

Around the horn

* Very encouraging to see Mike Pelfrey rebound from a shaky first inning. Guess the kid deserves another start. The same CANNOT be said for Chan Ho Park, who bombed in spring training, bombed in Triple-A, then bombed in his spot start Monday night. Can we please get Jorge Sosa up here when El Duque's turn comes in the rotation?

* Also nice to see David Wright (3 hits) and Carlos Delgado (2 hits) swinging the bat a little better last night. Wright hit his first home run of the season. The fact that the Mets are a half-game out of first place with essentially zero contributions from these two key pieces should make you feel good.